Cortisone has marginally reduced glucocorticoid activity compared to cortisol (80-90%[15]), and thus, cortisone can be considered an active metabolite of cortisol. However, 11-beta-steroid dehydrogenase can catalyze the reverse reaction as well, and, thus, cortisone is also a precursor molecule of cortisol. Cortisone is activated through hydrogenation of the 11-keto-group, and cortisol is, thus, sometimes referred to as hydrocortisone.[citation needed]

Addiction to cortisone was the subject of the 1956 motion picture, Bigger Than Life, produced by and starring James Mason. Though it was a box-office flop upon its initial release,[16] many modern critics hail it as a masterpiece and brilliant indictment of contemporary attitudes towards mental illness and addiction.[17] In 1963, Jean-Luc Godard named it one of the ten best American sound films ever made.[18]John F. Kennedy needed to regularly use corticosteroids such as cortisone as a treatment for Addison's disease.[19]

^Quirke, Viviane (2005). "Making British Cortisone: Glaxo and the development of Corticosteroids in Britain in the 1950s–1960s". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C. 36 (4): 645–674. doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2005.09.001. PMID16337555.